


Christina's World

by a_clockwork_writer



Category: Christina's world, Illness - Fandom, Short Story - Fandom, Sickness - Fandom
Genre: Cancer, Gen, Mental Illness, Puppy Love, Short Story, family love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:47:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24456160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_clockwork_writer/pseuds/a_clockwork_writer
Summary: A short story based on the painting Christina's world.A girl who always troubled with mental illnesses, is diagnosed with stage four heart cancer, and has little time left. In her final moments, her family takes her to Switzerland, where she can find some peace, before her farewells are due.She always knew she would die, but she didn't know what awaited on the other side..





	Christina's World

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Christina's world](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/626887) by Andrew Wythe. 



My name was Christina Daaé. I was fourteen years old when I was diagnosed with stage four heart cancer, and found out that I had but two months left to live. My parents, two sisters and I arrived in Zurich, a large city in Switzerland, where we enjoyed some of our remaining time together. That was be my last day with my family before we left for the hospital later that evening.

It was illegal in Canada to put people to sleep, no matter how sick they may have been, that’s why we came here. I was scared out of my wits, and so was my family, of course- which was perfectly natural. Who isn’t afraid of death? Of the vast unknown? I didn’t want to die. I often wondered why me and how is this fair? Why should a girl at the tender age of fourteen, with a family who loved her dearly, be diagnosed with incurable disease? The answer of course was simply put: it isn’t fair, because life is often times unfair, and that is just the way of the world. 

All I ever wanted was to lead a normal life. I wanted to graduate from High School, and make it into University and study Biology. I wanted to have two beautiful children when the time came, and care for my ageing parents. But that would never be.

I lay back against a small wooden gate on the front porch, and closed my eyes to listen to the song of woodpeckers, lightly tapping through the trees, hunting insects. The warm breeze swept back my long, chestnut curls. My head drooped to the side as I fell into a peaceful sleep. 

I came to in a dream, in a beautiful, otherworldly place. I lying in field of shamrock green grass, a place that was so very familiar to me, for even though knew I had never come here in the flesh; I visited it ritualistically in my sleep. Because I dreamt of it so often, I’d memorised the feeling of the luscious grassy tendrils beneath my fingertips. I looked from side to side, taking in my surroundings. Standing slowly, I expected the usual crippling pain to surge to my chest, but it did not come. I felt nothing but a gentle, warm breeze ruffling my dress, sweeping over my face, and moving about wisps of my hair.

The air was incredibly fresh, and smelled of the Azalea flower. The alluring aroma carried in the wind, like a sort of fresh and organic perfume. Distantly, as if from a faint song; I could make out the sound of waves coursing into one another. I just knew that water would be bright blue, clean, and fluorescent. I heard eagles flying overhead, cawing together, fighting for the fish over the water. I could hear ground squirrels scurry in the high grass, collecting food for their young. What struck me as most familiar, was the sound of a dog’s yapping. 

In the distance, I could see the small silhouette of a puppy racing towards me, leaping and bounding in joy. When the puppy stopped at my feet, it looked up at me with small eyes that beamed in delight. It looked almost as though it were smiling, happy to see me. The dog had on a deep, sapphire blue collar, which led me to assume the puppy was a boy.

He was an Australian shepherd, with a stunning fur pattern, and beautiful mismatched eyes: One was a deep brown dotted with specks of periwinkle blue, and the other a resonant moss green flecked with silver. His coat was mixture of white, brown and black black swirls, their edges touched with gold. He looked like the pup of some magnificent creature; one that could only be found in one’s dreams… or imagination.

I leaned down to read the label on his tag, but instead of there being a name, it simply read, “Name me!”

I let go of the tag and followed the pup as he leaped from me. We walked together towards a small cliff. Once we arrived, he looked down at the water and tilted his head, and my gaze followed his. I saw myself in the water, not as a reflection, but an image of the present. I saw my frail, body curled into a ball, deep asleep on the back porch of the house in Zurich. My mother was there, walking towards me with my father closely at her heels. She stopped in front of me and looked at me regretfully. A tear crept down her cheek. At that moment I realised how horrible this was for her. Her youngest, most vulnerable daughter, was about to be taken from her. 

Once before, long ago, I had been taken away from her to spend a week at the hospital because my anxiety had gotten really bad. This time, I realised, there would be no bringing me back, and she would only have my father as family. Since my other two siblings moved out, she would no longer have a child in the house to care for daily.

She stepped towards me and shook my shoulder lightly. I couldn’t feel it as thought I were right there, but I felt a slight tug on my left shoulder where her hand was, and I heard her soft voice, echoing in my head as she spoke.

“Come on, Christina.” She coaxed, her voice breaking up. “It’s time to go, love.”

A tear splash into the water. I had somehow gotten onto my gotten onto on my knees and I was craning over the image in the water. The pup looked at me with sad eyes, and hesitated before nudging me toward the it, as if to make me go in. I looked at the pup, then nodded in understanding. I ruffled his head before gliding off into the warm water.

“Darling, come now, it’s time to go.”

I opened my eyes to see and feel my mom’s hand rested on my shoulder. Pain cascaded upon me, and she helped me up, holding me tightly where we stood.

“Mom?” I looked into her solemn eyes, filled with pain and foreboding, and gave her as genuine a smile as I could through the pain. She returned it with a sad one.

“Well,” She said, pulling away. “We… we should get going.”

The car ride was short and quiet. No one spoke the whole way, but that didn't bother me. It gave me a chance to admire the beauty of this countryside for the last time. The hospital wasn’t much to be impressed by. It was small and humid inside. They led us into a small room, with flowers on the walls, and little cacti lining the windowsills. A small bouquet of azalea flowers lifted the depressing aura of the room slightly with their fresh scent.

“The doctor will be right with you.” The nurse said in a strong German accent, as she left the room.

It took a couple of minutes until the doctor came in, holding a small case containing a needle, and introduced herself. “I am doctor Müller, and I will be performing the injection.” She stepped over to me. “Christina Daaé is your name?” She asked.

I nodded.

“My, my” she said, “What a lovely name. A lovely name for a lovely girl. I’ll leave you with your family, you have fifteen minutes.” She walked out of the room, leaving me and my family to our farewells.

My father sighed heavily and his eyes watered. “Oh, I’ll miss you.” His voice broke and pulled me in a tight embrace. My older siblings, Kaitlyn and Alorie were next. They came in for a hug at the same time, and broke down in my arms. After a ten minutes of hugging and crying, they unlatched themselves from me and my mother stepped forward. 

“Christina-” She tried to speak, but her voice faltered and broke. “I’m so sorry, love.” She sobbed. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, and I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you from it. It- It’s all my fault. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t be sick-”.

“Mom,” I croaked, “This isn’t your fault. I’m happier doing this, otherwise I'd be sitting in my bed, waiting for the unexpected moment.” She fell into my arms, and I hugged her with all the strength left in me.

There was a knock at the door and the doctor emerged from the quiet hall, a small needle filled with transparent liquid in her right hand. Her smile faded when she saw my mom and I. “Ready..?” she asked, slowly. I nodded, then turned to the bed.

I lay down on the soft white sheets and I looked around at my siblings, then my dad… and then my mom. They were all crying as I felt a faint and brief pain on my wrist. My vision blurred slowly, and the last thing I saw was my mother. She said something to me, but my sense of hearing had already perished. She said “I love you”, I just know it. I mouthed the words back, and I closed my eyes. Falling into light, and letting myself float away to a better, calmer, greener place.

Someone was gripping my arm gently, pulling me to my feet. Opened my eyes to find my grandparents kneeling before me, their eyes glassy with tears.

“Grandma?” I said, “Grandpa?”. They smiled at me, and I leaped into their arms, sobbing. My cries were muffled by their warm wool sweaters. Something tigged at my ankle, and when I looked down, there was the dog from my dreams.

“Have you named him yet?” My grandfather asked as I leaned down to cuddle with him.

“Dakota.” I blurted out. “I named him Dakota. It’s what mom always wanted to name a dog if we’d had one.” The dog barked excitedly. When I checked his collar, I saw faint letters appearing on the name tag, spelling out his new name. “Come on boy!” I called as I hurried to the low cliff, and let my knees drag me down to the ground.

I looked down to the water, and saw my family again. There I lay limp on the hospital bed. My mom and my siblings’ shoulder were shaking from sobs in my dad’s arms as he looked down upon me. I reached down from the low cliff and touched the water, but instead of waking up, the water only rippled.

I looked up at my grandparents, then at Dakota. “I’m not going home, am I?” I asked, tears streaming down my cheeks. “Not this time. I’m not going to wake up this time, am I?’

Dakota looked at me sadly. I got back up on my feet and joined my grandparents, and they led me up to a small cottage at the top of the hill; where I will forever stay happy, and unencumbered by pain. Waiting, until I could finally see my family again.


End file.
